Evening All,
I have been suffering from pusher withdrawal symptoms recently, so thought that perhaps I should build another one to satisfy the craving. It happens that a couple of years ago I found some references to the Otto Doppeldekker and that a vacuform kit was released by Formaplane in the 1990's which can be found sometimes. Then I found the IPMS WW1 SIG site and via this Steve Cox who has built a couple of the Formaplane models. However I wanted to scratch-build one because I happen to think that by the time I have cut out and sanded down all of the parts for a vacuform I might as well make the parts myself. The engine would have to be scratch-built in any case and as this is probably the most difficult part, I could see no reason for not giving this one a try. I needed some plans and Steve Cox very kindly sent me a copy of drawings that had originally appeared in the German magazine
Flugsport: these are probably as good as any as this type seems to have passed through innumerable variations. It would seem that about 180 of these machines were built and Otto was obviously experimenting with the design. In any event I intend to use the
Flugsport drawings and such photographic evidence as I can find. I suspect that the model will not be 100% accurate, but I defy anyone to tell me exactly what is wrong when it is finished.
I started as usual by making a mould for the fuselage nacelle and made the fuselage halves using the standard push-mould technique. The next step will be to add the interior details including the fuel tank which was in the rear of the nacelle behind the pilot.
Thanks for looking.
Stephen.
